Thousands mark late Yugoslav leader Tito's birth anniversary

Admirers of the late communist leader gathered in front of the house where he was born in 1892, now a museum in Kumrovec, northern Croatia

They had come from all over the former Yugoslav federation to celebrate Tito's achievements, notably leading the partisan fighters who drove out the Nazi German occupying forces in World War II, standing up to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and founding the Non-Aligned Movement.

"The reason (for gathering) is the remembrance, not only of the past, but of the time in which we lived both richer and safer," said Jovan Vejnovic, head of an association of Tito supporters.

Many of Tito's admirers waved former Yugoslavia flags and were dressed in T-shirts bearing the former leader's image.

Tito ruled Yugoslavia from the end of WWII until his death in 1980.

A decade later, the federation collapsed in a series of bloody wars that claimed more than 100,000 lives.

Under Tito's rule, Yugoslavia remained independent of the then Soviet Union and became one of the most prosperous communist nations.

Tito remains a controversial figure in the countries that emerged after Yugoslavia's collapse -- Bosnia and Herzegovnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia -- adored by some but considered a dictator by others.